{"id":27337,"date":"2025-05-28T12:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/?p=27337"},"modified":"2025-05-28T12:43:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:43:39","slug":"at-the-ou-i-was-able-to-get-on-with-living-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/student-stories\/at-the-ou-i-was-able-to-get-on-with-living-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018At the OU, I was able to get on with living my life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jordan, a 26-year-old secondary school teacher from the Isle of Wight was able to land the job she always wanted with the help of The Open University (OU). Despite having to drop out of a campus university, she pivoted to online-supported learning with the OU and personalised her qualification to suit her lifestyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike so many, I went to a traditional university when I was 18 because I thought it was what I was supposed to do. But after the first year, I left as I struggled with living away from home. I\u2019m a home bird and I didn\u2019t like not being on the island where all my friends and family were,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rigid structure also didn\u2019t suit me. I\u2019m an independent learner, which is why the OU was a much better fit. I just wish I\u2019d known about the OU when I was at school, as the savings I would have made on rent alone would have been huge without even considering the cheaper fees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Personalising her course<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Young

Jordan with her husband<\/p><\/div>\n

Determined to fulfil her dream of becoming a teacher, Jordan was able to transfer credits from her first year of studies and customise her OU degree to suit her needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so relieved that the time I\u2019d spent at university hadn\u2019t been wasted and thankful that I\u2019d finally found a qualification where I could utilise my strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith my career goal of being a teacher and safeguarding specialist in mind, I opted for the Open Degree<\/a> and selected modules that aligned with the skills I wanted to build. I really struggle with exams, but that didn\u2019t matter with the OU as I was able to choose essay-based modules where I could work towards a deadline in my own time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was even able to tailor the pace at which I wanted to study. As I was eager to get my degree, I opted for 60 credits a year. Even though my schedule was busy, I was still able to hold down a full-time job, which allowed me to gain vital practical experience in addition to my qualification.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike being a student at a campus university, at the OU, I was able to get on with living my life. Whilst I was studying, I bought a house, got engaged and established a name for myself in the local education community. All of this helped me secure a qualified teaching position as soon as I\u2019d finished my degree and PGCE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Achieving her ambitions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now a graduate, Jordan has some words of advice for others with a desire to kickstart their career with an OU degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thrilled to find out that I\u2019d been awarded a distinction in my degree. The hard work was worth it, and I\u2019d encourage anyone else considering OU study to give it a go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had excellent support every step of the way, whether it was from my tutors, advice teams or my fellow students.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the OU, I now jump out of bed, excited for a day at work. I\u2019m well on the way to building a career in a stable profession that I love \u2013 a position that I wouldn\u2019t be in if I\u2019d stayed at a campus university.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been inspired by Jordan\u2019s journey, you can <\/strong>register by 11 September<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for courses starting this October.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jordan, a 26-year-old secondary school teacher from the Isle of Wight was able to land the job she always wanted with the help of The Open University (OU). Despite having to drop out of a campus university, she pivoted to online-supported learning with the OU and personalised her qualification to suit her lifestyle. \u201cLike so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":27341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,18],"tags":[1525,1640],"class_list":["post-27337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-student-stories","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27344,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27337\/revisions\/27344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}